Spirit of Gold
by WrittenInTheStars14
Summary: With Anakin sent to find the reason behind four disappearances, things don't go as planned. With Anakin's life on the line, will help come or will he be left for dead as a human test subject? I suck at summaries. Torture fic
1. Chapter 1

**New story! Everyone say yay! **

**So I wrote this story like...a year ago (?) on my iPod and decided to put it on my laptop and put it up here! So obviously I've made some - ok, a lot of changes but the storyline is the same as a year ago SO if this story somehow seems like anyone else's, it's not. It's my own. I have the original on my iPod; I'm just making the story longer and more interesting.**

**So this story will feature my OC, Asoka "Blackjack" Katera, at a few points. You can read about her in Alter My Life if you want but you really don't have to know squat about her to read this fic just fine :D ***EDIT*** I have changed my OC's name to Rayn "Blackjack" Tarwynn. I'm currently re-writing Alter My Life to fit her instead of Asoka but like I said, you don't have to know much about her to read this story just fine :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STAR WARS. Sigh.**

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><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

"You're late."

Those were the first words I heard that day, and they were straight from the mouth of Obiwan Kenobi.

"Good morning to you, too, Obiwan." I replied sarcastically.

"It would be a good morning if you could actually manage to show up on time to a Council meeting…for once."

"I told you that my alarm didn't go off when it was supposed to!" I explained truthfully. This was one of the rare occasions where that was the actual reason that I was late.

Obiwan cocked a disbelieving eyebrow at me before shrugging and urging me inside the Council Chambers.

As Obiwan took his rightful seat in the circle of Jedi Masters, Mace Windu cleared his throat.

"It's nice of you to show up, Knight Skywalker." He said with his usual scowl.

"I apologize." I answered him quickly.

Mace raised one eyebrow, making his already disapproving face seem even more disapproving.

"Heard of the great disappearances, have you?" Master Yoda asked me.

"I've only heard that three Padawans have gone missing." I told him. There had been three Padawans that suddenly disappeared on three separate missions with their masters. No one had heard from them since. The last one went missing a month ago.

"Four have now gone missing." Ki Adi Mundi informed me. "Padawan Jihiro Kuhn disappeared three days ago. All four Padawans have disappeared in the same coordinates." Ki Adi waved his hand and a hologram of a random spot in space appeared. Nothing was in that spot. No stars were visible. No planets. No random bits of debris floating around. _Nothing_.

"There's nothing there. How could they have gone missing?" I asked the Council.

"That's what we want you to figure out." Obiwan explained and I immediately felt nervous about the whole mission. "None of the Padawans' masters remember what happened when their Padawans went missing."

"You will take these coordinates-" Mace Windu explained. "-and go to that location. Stay just outside of the exact location. See if you can see anything. You will keep a comlink on at all times and stay in contact with us no matter what. Understand?"

I nodded.

"Leave in an hour, you will." Master Yoda told me.

"Yes, Masters." I said.

"This meeting is dismissed." Mace announced.

I bowed and then left the Council chambers.

I headed straight to my dorm, letting my new mission sink in.

"Anakin!" I heard the call behind me.

I stopped and turned around to see Obiwan running up to me. "What is it, old man?" I asked.

Once he caught up to me he looked me square in the eye and spoke. "The mission. It's dangerous."

"I realize that, Obiwan." I told him. I had started to get a feeling of dread. Four Padawans disappeared in the spot I was about to go to…no one could blame me for not exactly feeling optimistic about it.

"I…I never wanted you to be chosen for this mission." Obiwan explained. "Just…try to not get killed or anything. I'd rather not come save your life…again."

I smiled at him. "I'll try."

Obiwan then grinned. "May the Force be with you, Anakin."

"And you."

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><p><strong>LATER<strong>

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><p>I was just about to board my starfighter to leave for the mysterious coordinates when another voice called my name.<p>

"Anakin!" Rayn Tarwynn called from across the hanger. She came up to me and gave me a caring hug before saying anything. "Obiwan told me everything. Are you sure you have to do this mission?"

I nodded. "The Council has confidence in me."

"That wasn't what I meant." Rayn laughed softly.

"I already told Obiwan that I wouldn't get killed, what more do you want?" I asked jokingly.

Rayn smiled. "For you to stay healthy and uninjured. Seriously, Anakin. This whole thing just doesn't feel right. _Four_ Padawans have vanished and their masters don't remember anything! This isn't natural. I'm worried for you, Anakin." She hugged me again and stayed there for a few minutes. "Please be careful." She whispered.

"I will." I agreed.

After a moment, we pulled apart and I climbed into my ship. I started the engines and looked back at Rayn. I saluted and she waved back as I left the hanger for the coordinates the Council had given me.

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I sat in the Council Chambers with the rest of the Masters. We waited for Anakin to reach the coordinates. It had been a few hours since he had left the Jedi Temple. His comlink was on and we were on this side of the connection. Right now all we could hear was quiet.

"I'm on the edge of the coordinates." Anakin informed us after a while.

"What do you see, Skywalker?" Mace asked.

"Nothing." Anakin replied. "It's just as Master Mundi's hologram showed. There's nothing here."

"Hmm…" Master Yoda's ears moved up and down once. "Disappear over nothing, Padawans do not. Something, there must be."

"I agree, Master."

"Fly around more." Mace told Anakin. "Try to find something."

"Yes, Master."

Silence hung over the Council Chambers while Anakin flew around the coordinates. After a few minutes, Anakin's voice echoed off the walls again.

"There's still nothing her- no. Wait…" He trailed off.

"What is it, Skywalker?" Mace asked impatiently.

"I don't know. It's- AH!" Anakin stopped talking and instead screamed in pain. There was the sound of a loud thud and a slight groan from Anakin. Then, static.

Anakin was gone.

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><p><strong>TADA! So this chapter is <strong>_**really**_** short, sorry about that… but next chapter will be MUCH longer. I promise :)**

**If y'all liked it or think it has promise, reviews are appreciated :D Even if it's just like three words or something**


	2. Chapter 2

**So…uh…I realize that it's been like a long time since I put up chapter 1…aaaaand I'm REALLY sorry. I had SO much going on, including helping my uncle (he has cancer), practicing/performing a play, finishing all my school before spring break, and other events! I didn't even keep up with fanfiction for like a week or two (which NEVER happens.). SO again, I'm really sorry!**

**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! I really wasn't expecting to get any reviews on that short chapter…! I almost died when I saw reviews in my inbox :D**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STAR WARS. GEORGE LUCAS DOES, I'M JUST PLAYING WITH HIS TOYS**

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

The Council room was eerily silent, save the sound of static coming from the comlink connection.

We all sat there, staring dumbfoundedly at the holoprojector in the center of the room.

Suddenly, without warning, the silence was broken and an uproar of miscellaneous shouts was filling the room.

I was oblivious. I just sat there. Silently staring at the holoprojector. My ears barely heard snippets of what everyone was shouting.

_"...I don't understand..."_

_"What happened?"_

_"He's as good as dead, now..."_

"_**QUIET**_!" Mace Windu's voice yelled and the other voices immediately stopped. "This meeting is adjourned for now."

My mouth gaped open and I stood straight up. "_Adjourned_!" I questioned. Everyone turned to stare in silence at me. "This meeting _can't_ be over! Anakin needs help! We need to-"

"What we _need to do_ is think about this for a while." Mace interrupted. "We will hold another meeting in two hours."

"_Two hours_? Anakin could be _dead_ in two hours!" I argued.

"And even more Jedi will be dead if we don't _think this through_." Mace replied angrily. "Two hours is a risk _we have to take_."

I nodded and kept my mouth shut then, realizing the knowledge in Mace's words yet not wanting to risk Anakin's life.

"Meeting adjourned." Mace growled again.

The other Masters left the room; Luminara Unduli patted my shoulder before she left me alone in the room.

Two hours. I had to wait another two hours to determine whether we'd help keep Anakin alive or leave him to whatever hell he would endure.

"You won't die, Anakin." I whispered to the holoprojector. "You _won't_."

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><p><strong>(?)<strong>

I walked with another guard – his name was Larjek – as we came up to the Jedi's cell.

Larjek opened the door and the unconscious form of the Jedi was on the durasteel floor. Though he was unconscious, he was shivering slightly from the cold. The fact that he was shirtless was also not helping him keep warm. He no longer had a lightsaber clipped around his belt, which was also not on him. There was a soft glow of blue coming from the Force-cuffs around the Jedi's wrists.

Larjek kicked the Jedi's back. "Wake up, sleepyhead." He said.

The Jedi slowly stirred and moaned as he placed a bound hand to his head. His eyes then snapped open and he immediately lunged at Larjek. I swung the butt of my gun around to hit him on the back of the head. He fell to his knees, dazed. He didn't have much time to realize what was going on before Larjek and I hauled him to his feet. Larjek shoved him forward as we marched him down the dimly lit hall and to an identical room.

We moved him to the middle of the room where we held tightly onto his arms. He struggled some until Larjek hit him in the jaw and he fell to his knees. After that, he was silent in every way.

His eyes were closed and his head was bowed slightly. He was probably doing some Jedi meditation. It didn't last much longer.

The door to the room opened and Larjek and I yanked the Jedi into a standing position. A short figure came in through the open doorway. A black cloak surrounded the figure's small body, almost threatening to swallow the person whole.

"This?" Its female voice croaked as it pointed a finger at the Jedi. "This is what I have to work with? Another Padawan? If he wants to know how it works on a full Jedi then get a full Jedi." She muttered the last part to herself.

The cloaked figure then stopped and stared at the Jedi for a second longer.

"No..." she whispered, cocking her head slightly. "A Knight. A Jedi Knight." There was a slight hint of joy before her cold tone returned. "Finally."

She removed her hood and revealed a woman's wrinkled face. It looked kind, but her pitch black eyes gleamed cruelly. Her gray hair was in a long braid flowing down her back to just above her hips.

Larjek and I knew she was a witch, but I doubt the Jedi knew.

She stepped closer to the Jedi. She reached up toward his neck with a large silver ring in her hand: a Force-restraint collar. He tried to jerk his head away, but Larjek grabbed it and held it straight. The collar snapped easily around his neck.

The elderly woman then pulled a small knife from her cloak and held it in her hand. She gently dragged the blade of it down the Jedi's cheek; yet the caress was gentle enough that it didn't slice his skin.

"Save your strength, child." She murmured to him. "You'll need it."

She then raised the knife and slammed the end of the handle into the Jedi's cheekbone, leaving a red mark.

He didn't cry out, grunt or even wince like most prisoners, instead he held his ground. He was brave at least. Now if only he was strong.

The old woman poked the tip of the knife into his shoulder; just enough to get a single crimson drop of blood to slide onto the knife blade.

"Let's begin." she muttered as she smiled.

Now I felt the Jedi stiffen under my grasp on his left arm.

The witch kneeled down in front of the Jedi. She wiped the drop of blood off the knife-tip with her palm and closed her hands around it. She started to speak an incantation in an ancient language.

I watched in awe as crimson blood started to flow from her closed fists. Still chanting, she raised one bloody hand to put it on the prisoner's bare chest.

The Jedi immediately started to struggle, but the worn hand still landed upon it. She slowly dragged her hand away, leaving a bloody handprint on his chest, right above his heart. The long, dreary incantation continued to flow from the witch's mouth as it filled the room with an uneasy feeling.

The Jedi's breathing quickened as her hand dropped back to her side. He closed his eyes tightly and his jaws clenched.

The witch's voice became louder for the next part of the spell. As her voice rose, the Jedi grunted and began to get tenser. The woman continued her chant as the blood started to trickle down the Jedi's chest.

"Kachi...kachi!" The witch continued and a small amount of glowing, golden mist started to come straight out of the Jedi's chest, right over his heart where the blood was. He cried out slightly, and then bowed his head.

The mist was floating in the air, not falling and not going in every direction, but staying in the same small, wispy stream. It was glowing slightly and a shimmering golden color. The essence of mist itself was nothing spectacular, but I knew what the mist was. Life. It was the Jedi's life being extracted from his heart.

As the incantation continued, the mist continued to flow from the young man's chest. The misty stream floated through the air and into the witch's open hand, creating a tiny, swirling orb.

"KACHI!" The witch yelled.

Golden life burst from the Jedi's heart. He screamed in agony and fell to his knees, but Larjek and I held on tightly to his arms.

The shimmering stream continued to flow into the witch's hand, forming a ball of swirling gold.

"ENOUGH!" She yelled once the ball was a considerable size.

The life stopped coming from the man's chest, but the swirling orb stayed in the witch's wrinkled hand.

Larjek and I released the Jedi's arms and he collapsed, shaking, onto the cold floor, gasping for breath and coughing.

The witch eyed the glowing orb before another guard entered the room and held a small, black box. The witch opened the lid and gently placed the ball of the Jedi's life into the box.

She then leaned forward until she was inches away from the Jedi's grimacing face. "Your nightmare's just begun." She hissed to him.

She stood up and began to leave, escorted by Larjek. She then stopped and turned to me in front of the door.

"Take care of him, Stix." She told me.

I nodded as she turned and the door closed behind her. I grabbed the Jedi's cuffs and dragged him over to a pole in the back of the room. It was stuck in the ground and reached the ceiling.

I rechained the Jedi's hands behind his back and around the pole. I pulled out a syringe full of a glowing green liquid. The fluid would help the Jedi restore his strength, and therefore be of more use to the witch. I popped the cap off the needle and slid it into the Jedi's arm, pushing the green liquid into his arm. Then I stood up and looked him over to make sure he couldn't slide out of the bonds.

"I'm sorry." I whispered to him.

"Don't waste your breath on lies." He growled back at me.

I looked back at him. He hadn't moved at all, not even to look up at me when he spoke.

"I'm not lying." I spoke the truth.

"Yeah right."

"I don't want to be here... I don't want to work for the Separatists." I told him.

Now he looked up at me, his eyes were blue ice. He obviously didn't believe or trust me.

"Honestly," I explained, "the Republic is my friend. It still is, a year ago I was taken by the Separatists, ever since I've been working so I can keep my life."

His eyes narrowed, still not believing a word I said.

"My parents were killed by a bounty hunter 8 years ago," I continued. "A Jedi found me and took care of me until I could survive on my own. So I did...until a year ago."

My explanation was cut off as the door opened and another guard walked in. He was muscular and his eyes were cold. I recognized him. He was called Cutlass.

"The witch, Shakira, sent me here." He said in a deep, unforgiving voice. "You can wait outside."

I nodded and left, standing outside the door.

The second the door closed, the sound of a strike was heard.

After a few blows, the Jedi began to cry out. He was severely weakened by Shakira's witchcraft.

I knew that this beating would be a short one. The Jedi had arrived only this morning. Shakira had wanted to start her experimenting as quickly as possible. It consisted of taking the Jedi's life for various tests; and beatings and taking the Jedi's life to see how long he could survive. It was brutal, though Shakira had already done the process to four Jedi Padawans. This Jedi was the first Knight she'd gotten to work with. I feared that this Jedi would also get the most brutal treatment.

After five minutes, Cutlass walked out of the cell. "Give him another dose." He said as he walked off.

I walked into the room to see the Jedi bloody, bruised, and fighting to regain his breath. I reached his still-cuffed form and have him another shot of the glowing green fluid.

"You really can trust me." I whispered.

He glared up at me. "And why the hell should I trust you?" He asked before continuing to gasp for air.

"Because I'm going to do everything I can to keep you alive and get out of here." I told him.

His eyes seemed to soften slightly, even though he didn't fully believe me.

I paused, trying to find a way for him to believe me.

"Here." I walked over and took the Force-restraint collar off his neck, knowing the collar restricted his strength and healing.

Now he seemed to be on the verge of fully believing me.

"I swear." I started to leave, but stopped when I heard his voice.

"Thank you..." he murmured.

I looked at him and nodded. I stood in front of the door, realizing something.

"Do you have a name?" I asked.

"Anakin."

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><p><strong>Tada! It is a little bit short, but I'm just getting started so bear with me :)<strong>

**Chapter 3 will be comin' soon :D**

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED AND CHERISHED IN MY HEART TO THE FULLEST EXTENT FOR ALL ETERNITY.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's chapter 3! It took a little bit longer than I wanted it to take to make this chapter, but I got writer's block in the middle of the chapter XP This chapter is also kinda short…but the next one will be longer, I promise.**

*****EDIT*** OK so this is the point where I changed my OC's name to Rayn Tarwynn (pronounced just like rain and then "tar-w-in"). I think I've gone back and already changed all of the Asoka's to Rayn, but if I missed something, I'm sorry. But from now on all of that will be fixed :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING.**

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><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

My first night in my cell was long. The rock and durasteel cell offered _no_ warmth, and all I could do was try to curl up as much as possible to preserve body warmth. I couldn't move my bound arms at all, and the pole restricted my sitting position. Eventually, my muscles locked up and _everything_ ached. I'd had no food or drink in at least 24 hours. My stomach growled and my throat was dry, but I was used to not eating for longer periods of time. The worst part was that every once in a while, a twinging pain would ghost around my heart for a minute before disappearing.

With all of my discomfort, sleep was nearly impossible.

I couldn't tell what time it was at all, considering the lack of _any_ clear opening to the outside. The only way out of my cell was through the door, which was locked shut. I knew Stix was standing outside the door.

I still wasn't fully sure if I could trust him or not, but I decided that he was better than nothing. He had let me keep the Force collar off for a few hours, but had to put it back on for my own safety.

It was so…abnormal to not be able to feel the Force flowing around me. I had had Force collars and Force suppressors before, but I still could never get used to the feeling, or lack thereof.

I leaned my head back against the metal pole behind me as the door to my cell opened. Stix walked through and took off my collar, and I let the Force flood my senses, relishing in the comforting light of it.

"I have to put it back on in a while," Stix explained. "The witch Shakira has more planned for you today."

"I didn't expect anything less." I muttered.

Stix shrugged and stood up, turning to leave when I stopped him. "Wait!" I called after him. "You said the witch's name was Shakira?"

He nodded. "She specializes in torturous witchcraft. The mist that came out of your chest is your life."

My eyes widened. That explained why my heart hurt. Shakira had actually taken my life away from me.

"My…my life?" I asked, stunned. "What does she want with my life?"

Stix shrugged. "Experiments."

"What kind of experiments?"

"Testing your life's quality, testing you. She's already done experiments on four Padawans, all of which are dead. Shakira will take your life and have you beaten and see how it affects you. What she'll do with your life, no one really knows. Try to create weapons, poisons, and other various experiments for her employer. Only Shakira and a few scientists here know what she does with it."

I sighed, taking in everything he had just told me.

"Do you think the Jedi will come for you like you came for the Padawans?" Stix asked.

I closed my eyes and shook my head slightly. "I don't know, Stix. I just don't know."

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I woke up in my quarters, wishing that Anakin was in the other bedroom. Suddenly everything came back to me.

Anakin's disappearance, the Council meeting… Oh, Force. _The Council meeting._

I closed my eyes tightly, wishing that it was all a dream.

The Council had discussed Anakin's disappearance for at least an hour last night. They debated about the risk of finding him, how to find him and all sorts of other complications.

Eventually…they had decided to leave him.

I had to literally bite my tongue to keep from yelling at the Council last night. They had no idea as to how to find him without even more Jedi being captured. There was too great of a risk to try and find a man who could easily be already dead.

I opened my eyes suddenly. Someone would have to tell everyone that he was dead. Granted, I didn't believe that he really was dead, but the Council was leaving him for dead. The ones he loved had a right to know, no matter what my opinion was.

I sighed as I sat up in my bed, cracking my back loudly before getting dressed in my usual Jedi robes.

A few minutes later, I was in the Temple halls, heading towards the Mess Hall.

I turned a corner and literally ran into another person.

"I'm so sorr- oh! Obiwan!" I looked into the concerned gray eyes of Rayn. "Are you ok?"

She had no idea that Anakin had even disappeared. The Council hadn't announced it yet, apparently.

"I…" I started to answer her question but gave up. "Rayn, Anakin disappeared last night."

Her expression went lax, letting her full shock show. "Same as the Padawans?" She asked with a strained voice.

I nodded.

"What has the Council decided to do?" She has hesitantly, almost like she was bracing herself for my answer.

"They…they decided to leave him. It's too much of a risk to go after him." I explained.

Rayn nodded slowly, taking a deep breath.

"For all we know he's already dead." I told her sadly.

Rayn raised her eyebrows. "You don't believe them." She didn't ask it as a question, but said it like a statement.

I sighed. "You're right, I don't. I know he's still alive, but…I can't feel him. I don't know how to find him."

She nodded as her comlink began to beep. "I have to go, but come find me later, ok?"

I nodded and she smiled sadly as she walked off, holding her comlink to her mouth.

I had lost my appetite and decided to go to the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

After walking for a while, I was sitting on a small stone bench inside the large chamber as the sound of falling water began to shut the world out of my conscious thoughts.

After a few hours of sitting there, staring at a leaf in front of me on the ground, I made up my mind. The Council might be leaving Anakin to die, but I wasn't going to.

I looked up now, gazing into a waterfall before me. "I'm going to find you, Anakin." I whispered to it. "I promise."

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><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I coughed again as the burly guard stood above me, staring down at me. I glared at his boot that was resting a few feet away from my face. I spit out the blood in my mouth onto it.

The guard apparently didn't like it and swiftly backhanded me, making my head whip to the side and causing the right side of my face to sting.

"We'll finish later, Jedi." He growled to me before walking out, leaving me in the dark again to deal with my pain.

A few moments later, Stix walked into my cell. He took off my collar and gave me another shot of glowing green fluid.

"It'll help with your strength." He told me as he put the cap back onto the needle.

"Thanks." I told him hoarsely.

He nodded and stood up. "If you want to get rescued, you might want this." He held out a small, black comlink. He unlocked the cuffs around my raw wrists and placed the comlink into my hand. "You have five minutes." He informed me before starting to walk out.

"Stix!" I called quietly after him, not wanting anyone to hear us. "Thank you."

He smiled and walked through the door, closing it and taking up his guard position. I truly was grateful for Stix. He was taking a huge risk with helping me. If someone caught us, he'd be dead in a matter of minutes.

I smiled as I looked down at the comlink and put in the frequency of the first person I thought of.

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

"Obiwan!" I jerked my head to the side as I heard my name being called over the drone of the waterfalls. I hadn't moved from my spot in the Room of a Thousand Fountains for at least an hour.

Rayn Tarwynn's form turned the corner on my left and noticed me, sighing in relief. "Thank the Force I finally found you!"She said as she came up to sit next to me. "I've been looking for you for an hour." She chuckled softly.

"Sorry." I told her. Then I noticed the look in her eyes. There was a determination there, but there was also _fear_. "What is it, Rayn?"

"Do you remember the call I got on my comlink this morning?" She asked, and I nodded in response. "It…it was Anakin.

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><p><strong>Boom! I hope y'all liked it despite the lack of length! Hopefully I'll have chapter 4 (which WILL be longer) posted relatively soon :)<strong>

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's chapter 4! It's longer, just like I promised :)**

**Thank you SO much for all the reviews I got! Each one means a lot to me **

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING.**

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><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

"It was Anakin." Rayn told me.

I stared at her in shock. My mind was blown into turmoil and my mouth couldn't form words.

"He…he…" I stammered. "But…how?"

Rayn shrugged. "I don't know, but he's alive."

"What did he say?" I asked eagerly.

"Not much. He was captured by a witch for testing. I don't know what they're doing to him, but he was spitting out blood when he cut the transmition." Rayn explained. "That's all I know."

I sighed. Rayn was right, Anakin apparently hadn't said much, but I don't blame him. Someone was helping him, but for how long? Eventually, someone would figure out, right?

"Come with me." I told Rayn. "I know who we can talk to."

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I sighed and leaned my head against the metal pole behind my head, wishing I had had more time to talk to Rayn. Granted, I still didn't know where I was or anything helpful, but maybe she or Obiwan could figure something out.

I tried for the hundredth time to draw the Force to me with the collar on and was surprised when I could barely feel it. Either I was getting stronger, or the Force collar was loose. Stix had had to put it back on in a hurry last time, maybe it wasn't completely on my neck.

I jerked my head forward as Shakira walked into my cell with four guards following behind. The guards were carrying something, but I couldn't see well enough to see what they were carrying.

"Good morning, Jedi." Shakira greeted me almost cheerily.

So it was morning now? How long had I been in this cell? I'd already had four of Shakira's experiments done on me and six beatings, but that didn't mean much in relativeness to time.

I didn't really care for her greetings; all I did was stare at her with a locked jaw.

"So that's how it's going to be?" Shakira asked me with a tilt of her head. "Fine." She began to walk around my pole, almost taunting me, challenging me.

"I will say that there have been four Padawans here, as you already know." Shakira continued. "Each of them are dead. I've kept a record of all of their progress, or lack thereof. The first one died in only two days."

The guard on Shakira's far left threw his baggage on the ground in front of me.

I stared down at the lifeless face of a young Twi'lek girl. She must have been the first Padawan.

"The second one died in five days." Shakira told me.

The next guard tossed a dead human boy's body on the floor.

"The next was dead in a week."

Next was a dead human female.

"The last one died in only eight days."

The last one was a Togrutan girl.

"You've lasted longer than the first one." Shakira pointed to the first Twil'ek girl. "But my employer wants to see how long a Jedi Knight can survive, not Padawans." Shakira leaned down and yanked the Twi'lek's beaded Padawan braid off her head before kneeling down in front of me. "Just as a reminder, keep this." She wrapped the braid around my right wrist and tied the ends together.

"If you survive long enough, maybe I'll let you go." Shakira shrugged before leaving the room along with the other guards, leaving the dead Padawans' bodies on the floor.

They seemed to stare at me, a silent plea for help still plastered on their faces.

I didn't know the Padawans by name, but I knew the human girl's Master. Her Master was Master Jundali Kaing. He and I were friends when I had first come to the Temple; I knew that he would be devastated over the loss of his Padawan…

I couldn't help but stare at the pale bodies of the Padawans. Each of them were below the age of fifteen…that's too young to die by Shakira's sick ways. It's also too young to be stuck in the middle of a war.

I closed my eyes as the Twi'lek girl's Padawan braid rubbed against my wrist again. I felt nauseous at the feeling. A Padawan braid was precious to every Padawan, and most Jedi still kept theirs even after it had been cut off during their Knighting. Now that this Twi'lek's was on my wrist, I couldn't help but imagine how she died.

Slowly. Painfully. In a way that no one should ever have to endure, especially a child.

I opened my eyes again as I thought of all the countless deaths I'd watched. No one really understands our side of the war.

Sure, there's the Senate complaining about lost battles, losing funds, and all that other crap…but there's also the side where men watch their brothers be killed mercilessly, where you have to close the eyes of dead men, where you have to pray that you'll live another day.

The Senate's never experienced that. They've never had to lead men into a bloodbath. They've never had to try to stop the bleeding of a brother's wounds. They've never had to tell a dying man to hang on a little longer. They've never seen what war can do to people.

I have. I see it in each of the four faces of the Padawans.

War kills.

I clenched my fists together as I made a promise to Obiwan and Rayn.

"I will live to the end of the war."

* * *

><p><strong>(Guard 2765: Stix Korthen)<strong>

I stood outside Anakin's door, listening to the deafening silence of the prison. It was unusual for it to be so quiet, but Anakin was the only prisoner right now. The others had died off, not that it mattered to anyone. Besides the four Padawans, there were only two bounty hunters being held for questioning.

My senses snapped to alert when the door to the prison area was opened.

"Stix." A male's voice spoke to me. "You're being called for base patrol. I'll take over while you're gone."

I nodded and walked out of the prison area, starting to patrol the whole base.

The base itself wasn't huge, but it was big enough for Shakira's needs.

That's when an idea hit me: base patrol goes _everywhere_. Even in the experimental chambers. If I could figure out what Shakira was using Anakin's life for, maybe we could stop it.

I bit my cheek so I wouldn't smile like an idiot as I passed by the stock room and headed towards the experiment chambers.

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I barely glanced up as the door to my cell opened and a guard walked in. I didn't recognize him as one of the men who had beaten me before, but I didn't like the look of excitement in his eyes. I glared at him for a split second before turning my gaze to the durasteel ground.

"Enjoying your new piece of jewelry, Jedi?" He sneered at me.

I kept glaring at the ground, staying silent.

"What's wrong? Can't talk?" He asked me.

I clenched my teeth together, not giving the guard any satisfaction.

The guard knelt down in front of me, right at my eye-level. "Can't I at least get a 'hello?'?" He asked cheekily.

"Get the hell away from me." I growled back.

"You're in no position for that." The guard said as he grabbed my chin roughly and forced me to look at him. "In fact, you're in no position for any retaliation. One wrong move, Jedi. That's all it takes."

I glared at him until he smiled and let go of my chin. "Is that what happened to the Padawans? They just asked for water or some form of relief and you killed them? Sleemo." I asked angrily.

I was rewarded with a swift backhand.

"Shut up, Jedi." The guard

"It's true though, isn't it?" I continued, letting my hatred for them seep into my voice. "You killed _children_ because you had _nothing better to do_. I wouldn't expect anything less from a useless piece of crap like you."

"Those _Padawans_ weren't strong enough to survive Shakira's tests. You'll be lucky to live, too. I doubt you'll make it much longer." The guard stood up now.

"Why? Are you getting bored again?" I sneered up at him.

The guard kicked me in the ribs, making me double over. "Not at all." He told me. "Really, the fun's just starting."

With that, he punched me in the jaw, causing my vision to swim and grow foggy for a second. Another backhand. Two strong kicks. An uppercut to my stomach. It went on for what seemed like hours, but the guard didn't let up in the intensity of his shots.

I tried to keep from screaming in pain, but it wasn't working well so far. That was when I realized how much Shakira's experiments had weakened me. When I was just sitting against a pole, I didn't notice how much they had taken a toll on me. But now that I was being beaten and forced to exert energy, I felt completely helpless; limp almost.

I cried out in pure agony as one of the guard's kicks broke some of my ribs.

I panted, trying to catch my breath and deal with the pain as the guard stood over me, smiling. As I leaned forward, gritting my teeth and trying to move my ribs as little as possible, the Force collar slid off my neck and to the ground.

I stared at it, knowing that I had been right earlier. Stix had made the collar too loose on me.

The guard knelt down and grasped it in his hand. He looked at me with a sickening smile on his face. "Someone's helping you, aren't they?"

I didn't respond, and kept trying to catch my breath despite the agony racing through my ribs.

"I was wrong earlier." The guard murmured. "_Now_ the fun begins."

* * *

><p><strong>(Guard 2765: Stix Korthen)<strong>

I walked to the end of the rock-walled hallway to the entrance of a sealed door.

It had a red circle painted onto it with a cross inside it. It indicated that inside the door was the experimental room.

I took a deep breath as put in the code for unlocking the door and cautiously walked inside the large room.

It was jammed full of random machinery, containers full of glowing golden life, and scientists doing random tests and putting life into machines and testing equipment.

I walked up to the nearest table, noting how the glowing life swirled around in the multiple glass containers sitting on the metal table.

I was mesmerized by the life and began to wonder what Shakira could use such a precious thing for.

"Do you like it?" A woman's voice said behind me, making me jump.

"I…I…" I stammered as I stared at Shakira's cold, black eyes.

"What are you doing down here, Guard 2765?" Shakira asked me by my military name.

"Base patrol." I stated with confidence.

Shakira barely grinned, but it still failed to reach her coal eyes. "Would you like a tour?" She asked me.

"Yes ma'am." I told her and she ushered me to the machine to our left.

"All of the life here will be used to make biochemical weapons. Missiles releasing poisonous gas, completely tasteless, odorless, clear, reversible liquid poison that can be used to make nations bow to the Separatists. These weapons could bring the Republic to their knees and end this war." Shakira explained to me.

The reality of her words struck me as we passed a large glass pin full of lab rats. Shakira and I watched as a scientist pumped golden mist into the closed off container. The rats all stopped scurrying to sniff the air. One rat suddenly starting scratching at one of the glass walls as he began to foam at the mouth. I watched motionlessly as the rat's eyes were wild with fear as the fur on the rat began to fall out and its skin began to slowly burn away. I closed my eyes as all the rats were soon in this state, squeaking for help. After what seemed like ages, the rats fell silent and I opened my eyes to see a dozen rodent skeletons.

"Think of the potential of this on a whole planet." Shakira said, excitement evident in her voice. "The Republic will be crushed."

I became nauseous as I thought of a whole planet going through the pain of the rats. People; living beings would be going through this sort of inhumane death…

"It will bring great victories to the Separatists." I said, trying to convince Shakira that I was as much a Separatists as any other guard here.

Shakira smiled, a cruel and unforgiving smile, as she turned to me. "Yes, it will."

She showed me another machine that created bombs that were filled with more life.

"With this bomb, it's easier to fill the air with more of the life and cause more damage easier." Shakira told me as she gently brushed her fingers against the silver covering of the bomb.

"How does the life work as a poison?" I asked hesitantly.

"You see, midichlorians can be used as toxins as well as for control over the Force, too. The midichlorians in the Jedi's essence can slowly rot away the body of another if used correctly with the right chemicals. The small amount of chemical mix we put in with the life agitates the midichlorians, and makes them destroy life instead of creating it." Shakira explained.

I was about to respond when another guard came over and tapped Shakira's shoulder. She followed him to just out of my hearing range and began to speak in hushed voices.

After a few minutes of them talking while I pretended to be really interested in the deadly life, Shakira walked back over with the guard.

I turned to them and was going to ask Shakira another pointless question about the life when her and the guard's expressions made me keep my mouth shut.

"You forgot something, Stix." The guard said as he tossed something at me.

I caught it and stared down at a Force-restrain collar… _Anakin's Force-restraint collar._

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I spat out the last of the blood in my mouth as my cell door opened again and the same guard from earlier came in with a man held in his grip. He threw him to the ground and the man looked up at me with apologies written all over his face. It was Stix's face…

"Alright, Jedi." Shakira said as she walked in with her billowing black cloak. "My testing from when you got here to now have been…_inaccurate._" She glared at Stix as she continued. "I assure you that now they'll be correct."

The guard grabbed Stix by his head and held it in place. Shakira pulled out a syringe full of swirling golden life.

"Stix got to see how I'm using your life, I figured I should give _you_ an example of its power." Shakira knelt down and slipped the syringe into Stix's neck.

* * *

><p><strong>So I hope y'all enjoyed chapter 4! It's getting more into the story, and it'll get even better very soon :)<strong>

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!**


	5. Chapter 5

**So I know it's been quite a while, but I've been out of town a lot lately…Super sorry!**

**Anyways, thank you SO SO MUCH for all the reviews/alerts/favs I got for the last chapter! I hope y'all like chapter 5 just as much :D**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STAR WARS.**

* * *

><p><strong>(Guard 2765: Stix Korthen)<strong>

The life that Shakira injected into my neck began to work almost immediately. At first it was just a small sting, but it grew into a burning flame. This pain wasn't a normal over-all pain. This was like it was alive, and knew what it was doing. The excruciating pain immediately went to my brain and heart. My mind began to shut down as my heart began beating at an abnormally fast rate. I glanced down to notice that the skin on my fingers was beginning to burn away to reveal its contents, just like it had with the rats. Soon, instead of writhing in agony, I could only move my eyes and mouth. I could feel every muscle screaming in pain and my mind becoming foggy and disorganized. As my heart rate and brain began to mess up my vital organs and more of my skin and muscle burned away, one conscious thought hit me: I had to tell Anakin about Shakira's plans for the life.

I opened my mouth and tried to say two words: gas bomb. Surely Anakin would understand if I could just form the words.

"Gas..." I managed to choke out before my vision became nonexistent and my body quickly deteriorated."Bombs..." With that last breath, I listened to the dead silence as the altered life burned the rest of me away.

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker) <strong>

"Gas…bombs…" Stix gasped as the life took away his.

I closed my eyes as Shakira kicked his skeleton, sending bones flying in all directions. One of his bones hit my leg and I shuddered, thinking of how the life had killed him so brutally. I now knew how Shakira was using my life, but what was she planning?

"_Gas…bombs…"_

Stix's last words echoed in my head. Gas bombs? What did that mean?

"I assure you, Master Jedi," Shakira spoke. "Now that that little…_problem_ has been dealt with, all of your test results now will be completely accurate." I knew that my life was about to get a lot more complicated, but right now I didn't care. What I cared about was figuring out what Stix was trying to say, and what Shakira was planning.

Shakira swiftly left my cell, leaving Stix's scattered skeleton to rot next to the four Padawans' bodies.

As the sound of Shakira's footsteps echoed throughout the durasteel and stone room, I tried to figure out what Stix was saying.

I thought of how easily the life-shot had killed him. The injection took his life in a matter of minutes.

Then it hit me: the injection. Shakira had converted the mist-life into an injection; a liquid injection. If she could make it a liquid, she could convert it into any form.

"_Gas…bombs…"_

Shakira was making bombs full of a gas form of my life. Those bombs could kill a whole planet within an hour. With a weapon like that, who knew what Shakira could do…She could control whole systems, make even the most stubborn and mighty rulers obey her every whim... She could win the war.

It all made sense now. Except for one thing: who hired Shakira for this job? After all, Shakira couldn't be the only one to put this plan in action and rule the galaxy someday. One person – even a powerful person – could be overthrown. It had happened before.

Someone had hired her, and I was going to find out who they were.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

Rayn and I stopped as we came up to the door I was looking for. I knocked on it and a few seconds later, it opened to reveal Master Plo Koon.

"Master Kenobi, Master Tarwynn." She said, surprised. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, you can." I told her. "Rayn had contact with Anakin."

Plo turned her gaze to Rayn, staring at her intently. "How?"

"Comlink." Rayn replied.

Plo nodded slowly. "What do you need my help with?"

"We need you to track the signal back to his comlink and see if you can pinpoint it onto a map." I explained.

Plo took Rayn's comlink from her hand and looked it over. "I might be able to do something. I'll contact you if I find anything." Plo said with a smile, or at least I think it was a smile. It's hard to tell with his mask and emotionless eyes…

"Thank you." Rayn and I bowed slightly and left, leaving Plo to try and find Anakin's signal.

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

It had been a whole day since Shakira had killed Stix. Since then, life had been a living nightmare.

Shakira made sure that all of her test results would be accurate from now, so she'd made a few adjustments to my confinement.

For starters, there were two guards outside my cell now instead of only one. Shakira had put a new Force-collar around my neck. The only way anyone could get it off was if they used to Force to unlock it, which would be impossible for me. Shakira had also gone longer than she ever had during my experiments and beatings.

Luckily, my food and water amount didn't change. However, the amount of the glowing green strength-shot that Stix had given me was reduced the amount it should have been. Which, sadly, was only enough to make sure that my heart kept beating after experiments and beatings.

That's the state I was in now.

Still chained to the metal pole, listening to only the sound of my own breathing and faint footsteps coming from outside my cell.

I glanced up to see Shakira walking into my cell now. It was odd that she was all alone. Usually, a guard accompanied her for some odd reason.

"Alright, Jedi. Let's make this short, I don't have much time." Shakira stated simply. She kneeled down and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up into her pitch black eyes. "How long was that guard helping you?"

"_That guard_ has a name." I ground out.

Shakira smiled and cocked her head to the side. "That guard is dead. Why do you care?"

I kept silent.

"I know why you care about it. That man is the only reason you're alive, isn't it? That shows you just how _weak_ the Jedi truly are. Take away your precious Force and then what? You're completely _hopeless_. You have to stoop so low as to rely on a poor, Separatist guard." Shakira smirked at me and let out a humorless laugh. "If only the galaxy knew how utterly _worthless_ the Jedi are."

"You don't know what you're talking about." I whispered back, seething with anger.

"I don't?" Shakira replied cheekily. "Enlighten me."

I kept silent, glaring at her. "You don't deserve to know."

"Really? It doesn't matter. I see it in your eyes, Jedi. There's pain in your eyes; pain from memories. So many memories that you try to shut out, but you can't. I see them, Jedi, so why not just tell me?" She asked smugly.

"Why do you care?" I asked angrily.

"You say the Jedi are not worthless, I'd like to know how. I'd also like to know why you defend them. Everything I've said is true; you don't want to admit it. Jedi are weak. All you do is twirl around your lightsaber, lead hundreds of clones to their deaths and suddenly you're heroes, am I right? Suddenly you're the Republic's last hope. Too bad the Republic's last hope won't be good enough to save them."

I furrowed my eyebrows to together. What did she mean?

"In case you haven't figured it out already, we have been able to change your life into a toxic gas. Right now, I have half a dozen bombs full of that gas ready to drop on the planet Alderaan at my command."

Alderaan? Is she crazy? Alderaan is a main source of weapons for the Republic, the loss of Alderaan would be devastating for everyone.

"Now, all I need to know is how long that guard helped you. If you refuse, the entire population of Alderaan will be _dead_ within the hour. Your choice."

I thought it over for a second. If I told her, she could use that information to make the life more powerful, but if I didn't, the whole loss of a planet would be solely my fault.

"Commander," Shakira began talking into a comlink. "Drop-"

"Stop!" I gasped. "Four days. He helped for four days."

Shakira smiled. "Hold, Commander." She said into the comlink before speaking to me. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Shakira stood up with a smile. "If you ever want prove to me that the Jedi aren't weak, feel free to explain." She taunted as she left my cell.

* * *

><p><strong>(Rayn Tarwynn)<strong>

"Rayn!" I heard my name called from down the hall I was walking down.

I turned around to see Plo Koon walking towards me with my comlink in my hand.

I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I couldn't stop the faint flutter in my heart.

"Did you find anything?" I asked him when he had caught up to me.

Plo sighed; bad sign. "Whatever comlink Anakin used was terminated. I couldn't even pick up the faintest signal from it. I'm sorry, but something must have happened since you last talked to him."

I nodded slowly, taking it in. "Thank you, Plo." I said as I took my comlink from him.

"I'm so sorry." Plo said as turned around and walked away.

I sighed and looked down at the little comlink in my hand. "Oh, Anakin," I whispered to it. "Where are you?

I slipped the comlink into my pocket as I started walking to Obiwan and Anakin's shared quarters.

When I got there, I knocked lightly on the door and Obiwan almost immediately appeared, ushering me inside.

We both sat down on the couch, with Obiwan looking at me hopefully.

I shook my head. "The comlink Anakin used was destroyed. Plo said he couldn't pick up anything on it."

Obiwan sighed and cradled his head in his left hand. "So what do we do now?" He asked quietly.

"I don't know." I admitted. "If the Council isn't willing to even send out a search party, there's not much we _can_ do."

"So are you saying we just leave him?" Obiwan asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"You know I wouldn't ever leave him!" I shot back.

"What about right now?" Obiwan accused, looking straight at me with his sharp, green eyes.

"I don't have a choice right now." I replied. "There's no way to communicate unless we find him, and unless the Council has a sudden change of heart that's not going to happen anytime soon."

"What if they do?" Obiwan asked me.

"Why would they? We're still at the same spot as when Anakin first disappeared."

"But now we know he's alive!"

"He was alive yesterday! I don't want to say it but…that may have changed."

"Well I'd rather confirm that than just sitting here while he could still be alive!"

"What do you want us to do? We can't do anything unless you plan on going after him which the Council isn't allowing!"

Obiwan mumbled something I couldn't quite understand, but I knew what he said.

"Please tell me you're not honestly thinking about sneaking out to find him." I begged.

He looked up and I could see in his eyes that that's _exactly_ what he had been thinking.

"Obiwan," I continued. "I want to find him just as badly as you, but if you leave you're in the same danger he is. If anyone goes to find him, they're in the same danger he is. That's the Council's decision, and as much as I disagree and think that at least a scan of the area would be worth it, we can't risk it. Think of what Anakin would want. Would he want us to leave and risk both of us dying for him?"

Obiwan took a deep breath. "You're right. So what _do_ we do?"

"We try to communicate with him."

* * *

><p><strong>That's the end of chapter 5! I hope y'all like it! I PROMISE the next update will be much faster than this one :]<strong>

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED**


	6. Chapter 6

**So…I'm not dead! All I can say is that finals are **_**killer**_**. BUT school is OVER so I am free to write, write, write! So I promise that the next update won't take a whole month. I'm REALLY sorry about that.**

**Thank you SO MUCH for all of the reviews/favs/alerts from the last chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STAR WARS, but I do own Rayn.**

* * *

><p><strong>(Rayn Tarwynn)<strong>

"We try to communicate with him." I told Obiwan.

I looked at me like I was crazy. "What do you mean? I thought you said his comlink had been destroyed."

"It is, but I have an idea."

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

It was night… I think.

Stix had died two days ago. I had been stuck here for six. It hadn't even been a standard week yet, but it felt like I'd been in the cell for a month.

Usually, at night Shakira left me alone to let my body recuperate.

Tonight was different.

My arms were held tightly by two guards as Shakira coaxed more of my life out of my chest.

I closed my eyes tightly, silently forbidding the tears from falling. All of my muscles were painfully tight, screaming against the strain my body had been put under. With the constant beatings and experiments, when I was alone, I did nothing except sag against the pole. It was all I _could_ do! Energy would leave me, and whatever energy I did have went to trying to heal injuries and wounds.

I cried out again as Shakira stopped the flow of golden mist.

The guards let go of my arms and I collapsed on the durasteel floor, gasping to catch my breath again.

I glanced up as Shakira admired her orb of life. "That's enough for now." She said, her eyes flickering to me for a moment before she walked out.

The guards dragged me over to the dreaded pole again.

I hated that pole. It was like some sort of leash that they kept me on constantly. It's not like I'd go anywhere, anyway. But I knew the real reason they kept me chained to that pole. They _knew_ that it was just another way that they could silently scream their power over me. I was in their control, and they wanted to make sure that I knew it. There were all sorts of subtle, yet noticeable, ways that they would demonstrate it.

For one, they would never take me out of the cell. I hadn't even seen the hallway outside my cell. I didn't know where I was in the facility or what planet I was on.

Two, I was _always_ handcuffed. During experiments – where I was held by two burly guards anyway – I was still handcuffed. During beatings, it was handcuffs and a chain going up to the ceiling. Even when I got to eat, I was handcuffed, but at least then my wrists were tied in front of me.

Three, the pole.

That was where I was now. There was a slight twinge of pain in my arm as the guard slipped the needle into my arm and pushed the glowing, green contents of the syringe into me. With that, he left and I was alone.

I sighed, letting my head rest on my chest, still trying to catch my breath. I looked down at the resounding wound on my chest, over my heart.

It was a weird, bloodied, charred mark above my heart. It was large, and blood was almost always flowing from it.

That wound was the result of Shakira's experiments. It was what happened when life left me.

I looked over to one of Stix's bones in the corner… That was what happened when life entered you.

I closed my eyes, thinking about the gas bombs and what Shakira could do with those. What was her plan?

I knew she was willing to drop a bomb anywhere, she had proved that when she came seconds away from destroying Alderaan. It was also obvious that she had many bombs. How many – I wasn't sure.

I also knew that she had been hired. She was working for the Separatists, not for her own power. But _who_ had hired her? If I could figure that out, I might be able to discover what she was planning to do with all the life-filled bombs.

I sighed. "What are you doing, Shakira?"

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the pole, attempting to sleep. I was about to drift off when I felt something – or someone – touch my mind.

* * *

><p><strong>(Rayn Tarwynn)<strong>

I had dragged Obiwan to Master Luminara Unduli's quarters, hoping she could help us. She was a very good Jedi Healer, and I was hoping that we might be able to find Anakin in the Force.

That's where we were now, sitting in a circle. Obiwan was on my left and Luminara on my right.

We were searching the Force, searching for any sign of Anakin. I figured that if we couldn't find him physically, maybe we could mentally.

Usually, his presence was like a blinding, overpowering light. But now…we hadn't found _anything_. It was like cold, dark, bleak, nothingness.

Luminara sighed, and I opened my eyes, watching her expression. She looked at me, giving me a sympathetic smile before shaking her head.

"Wait…" Obiwan breathed.

Luminara and I watched intently as his eyes flickered beneath the lids. His eyebrows creased and his lips formed a thin line.

After a minute, he opened his eyes. "Anakin's alive."

Luminara smiled. "I hope you feel better now, Master Kenobi. I'm sure Anakin will find a way to get back to his Master."

"Thank you." Obiwan murmured as we stood up and walked to the door.

After Obiwan walked through the doorway, Luminara grabbed my arm.

"If you need help, I'm here." She told me with a wink.

I smiled warmly at her. "Thank you, really."

She grinned back and I left, walking with Obiwan. As soon as we were back in his quarters, and away from anyone's hearing range, we talked.

"How do you know Anakin's alive?" I asked him.

"I felt him. He's alive, but unable to feel the Force." Obiwan explained to me.

"Do you know where he was?"

He shook his head solemnly. "What I told you is all I know. Whoever captured him doesn't want him using the Force."

"Then we just need to find out where he is and who has him." I said encouragingly.

"But…how?" Obiwan asked. "He can't use the Force and we don't know where he is at all. And there's no way the Council is letting us go to the area of his disappearance."

"Well, we're not sneaking out." I told him. "But, you're right. I don't know how."

"Patience." Obiwan murmured, more or less to himself. "If we wait, the answer might come to us."

I nodded. "Then we'll wait."

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I bit my lip hard as I swallowed another scream of pain.

The larger of the two guards slammed his fist into my ribs again, most likely bruising it all over again.

The smaller one then kicked my back and I listened to the crack of my vertebrae. It wasn't completely painful, but almost more comforting. It was like he had popped my back, which had badly needed to be done.

I actually smiled about my back, finding it the only half-way humorous thing that had happened to me in a week.

The guard who kicked me noticed and grabbed a fistful of my hair, jerking my head back to look him straight in the eyes.

"What's so funny, Jedi?" He asked me angrily.

I laughed softly. "That felt great, thanks." I told him smugly.

He growled and threw my head down onto my chest. I kept smiling until I was hit forcefully in the side.

"Did that feel good?" The guard asked me with a smirk.

"Just fine, thanks." I retorted.

The guard punched me straight in the jaw, causing me to black out momentarily. To the guards, it seemed like I had been completely knocked out. I decided that pretending to be that way would probably benefit me.

I hung there, arms in the air, acting like I was unconscious.

"Alright, that's enough. He's out." The larger guard said.

They unchained my handcuffs from the chain hanging from the ceiling and dragged me over to the pole.

"I wish we could've done more." The smaller one muttered.

"You know what Shakira said!" The larger one said. "Not too much. He'll do more later."

_He'll _do more later? Who was he?

"Ugh, don't remind me." The smaller guard replied. "I wish he didn't have to come here. Because of that sorry excuse for a guard, suddenly we're all in deep water with him. I knew a Jedi shouldn't be trusted with just one guard."

"Keep your voice down!" The larger one told his colleague. "If Shakira hears you, who knows what she'd do to us!"

"I don't care! I'd rather be stuck with her or thrown out of here than be here when he gets here." The smaller one said.

"Shut up! If someone hears you, we're both dead." The larger one hushed him quickly.

The smaller one finally agreed with him and they gave me another shot before walking out, leaving me alone.

I looked up at the door to make sure no one else was around.

"He's coming?" I asked the emptiness around me. Who was he? And why were the guards so scared of him?

"_Because of that sorry excuse for a guard, suddenly we're all in deep water with him."_

So Stix made everyone in trouble with him? How?

Then it hit me.

I smiled widely, looking around me.

"He's coming." I whispered again, but this time as a statement. "Shakira's employer is coming."

* * *

><p><strong>That's chapter 6! I know it's pretty short, but I had inspiration and wanted to get something up for y'all. <strong>

**Chapter 7 will come much sooner than it took me to get chapter 6 written! I promise!**

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you SO much for all the reviews/favs/alerts for the last chapter! They all mean a lot :]**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STAR WARS.**

* * *

><p><strong>(Rayn Tarwynn)<strong>

Usually, I had great patience. Not quite as impressive as Obiwan's seemingly neverending patience, but definitely better than Anakin's and most peoples' for that matter.

But right now, I was close to breaking.

Obiwan and I had done absolutely _nothing_ for the last 48 hours and it was slowly, but surely, _killing me_.

I hated waiting in this instance. Heck, I didn't even know what I _was_ waiting for! Waiting to be sure that Anakin was dead? Waiting to miraculously hear from him personally? I didn't know, and I know Obiwan didn't know either. We both felt like fish out of water, just waiting to die.

I sighed and trudged down the halls of the Temple towards my quarters. It was late, and there was harldy anyone awake, much less walking around in the halls.

By the time I finally reached my quarters, I was about to fall asleep standing.

I took my lightsaber off my utility belt and put it under my pillow, crawling under the covers still in my full Jedi attire, lightsaber in hand under the pillow. Usually, I'd change and wear something much lighter, but I was so exhausted that I just didn't care.

Within minutes, I was sound asleep.

Next thing I new, I was standing in a room. A cold, dark room.

The only sound was the breathing and occasional coughs of one person who was chained to a pole at the end of the room.

"Anakin…" I tried to whisper, but no words came out.

He looked like a mess of flesh. He had bruises covering his torso and arms. A large gash decorated his left cheekbone, but none of that compared to the mark on his chest. It looked like the skin above his heart had been burned and then carved into with a knife. With each breath Anakin took you could see the faint glint of crimson blood covering the area.

"What do you want?" Anakin growled, but he didn't sound like his usual self. His voice was quieter – weaker.

"Not much." I heard the words come out of my mouth, but they weren't mine. They were deep and masculine. I was seeing the world through someone else's eyes.

Anakin scoffed. "Yeah right."

"No really, I don't want much." My voice said again. "I just want to ask you some questions."

"Huh, that's weird. It actually seems like a _civilized_ activity." Anakin looked up and into my eyes with a cocky smile. "Must feel different for you."

I watched in horror as my fist involuntarily flew through the air and collided with Anakin's jaw, making a terrible cracking sound.

"Watch your mouth, Jedi." My voice spat out at Anakin as he moved his jaw back and forth, making sure nothing was broken or dislocated.

"Make me." Anakin challenged.

_Why would you say that! _I yelled in my head.

My foot swung forward, kicking Anakin in the stomach. He cried out and doubled over, coughing as another strike came. The second the fourth punch came into contact with Anakin's body, I jolted straight up in my bed.

I panted, looking around and realizing that I was in my own body. I leaned forward, cradling my head in my hands.

"It was just a dream." I told myself. The images of Anakin and his cries of pain echoed in my ears. "It was just a dream… right?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

"Make me." I threatened the guard standing in front of me.

Next thing I knew, my ribs were burning with pain from the guard's swift kick. I cried out and coughed with each new strike, beginning to taste the coppery flavor of blood on my tongue.

After a couple minutes, the guard stopped.

"Alright, Jedi. Ready for questions?" The guard asked me.

I coughed one last time then looked up at him, not saying a word.

The guard shrugged. "Good enough. Now all I need to know is the answer to _one_ question."

"Wow, only one? It must be my lucky day." I muttered.

The guard narrowed his eyes, but ignored my comment. "How many Jedi are coming after you?"

My heart immediately sunk when he said the question. I'd been wondering the same question myself. "Why do you care?" I asked.

"Just answer the question." The guard replied simply. "How many Jedi are coming after you?"

I shrugged. "Why would I tell you?"

The guard sighed and I braced myself for a punch when I noticed the guard smiling and shaking his head slowly. "Trying to defend your little Jedi friends? It's not going to work, you know. Eventually, they'll be here anyway. Then we'll find out how many Jedi are coming. So really, you might as well just answer the question."

I swallowed hard, knowing that his argument was reasonable. "I don't know." I whispered.

"What?"

"I don't know!" I shouted. "I don't know how many Jedi are coming!" _If any… _I added in my head.

The guard smiled. "You don't?"

I shook my head.

"You really don't know." The guard sounded astonished. "What if there _aren't_ any Jedi coming after you?"

I'd thought that a lot lately. It'd been a whole week and I hadn't had any sort of remote contact with anyone. I don't really blame them, though. After all, I disappeared. They probably don't even know if I'm still alive.

"So, since you don't know the real answer," the guard continued. "How many Jedi _would_ be coming after you?"

I clenched my jaw. This guard was starting to tick me off.

"If there were Jedi coming after you, how many would there be?" The guard asked again.

I sighed, giving up on not telling him. "None. There would be none."

The guard smiled cheekily. "Good answer."

With that, he left.

I wished that my hands weren't tied so I could punch the wall. Or someone's face.

But no matter how frustrated I was at the whole situation, my words were true. No one was coming for me. No one knew if I was alive, and the Council probably already deemed me dead.

It was up to me to get myself out.

But how? Getting Stix to help me was a miracle in and of itself, but finding another? That would never happen.

What about Shakira's employer? Would he have a soft heart and let me go if he got what he wanted? Probably not. Then again, I still didn't know who he was… But I was about to find out.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I entered the main training room, looking for Rayn. She was the only person inside, so it was easy to find her. She was currently beating the crap out of a punching bag.

"Rayn!" I called over to her.

She finished with a strong elbow to the bag before she turned around, signaling to me that I wasn't going to get punched if I got too close.

As soon as I got over to her, she went back to punching the bag.

"Are you OK?" I asked her.

She punched the bag a couple more times. "What makes you say that?"

"The fact that before I walked in here you were cursing the bag. That's what makes me say that." I explained with a smile and raised eyebrow.

Rayn stopped punching the bag for a minute, darting her eyes to me for a split second before starting again.

"Rayn." I reached out and grabbed her arm mid-punch. "What's wrong?"

She sighed. "It's Anakin. He's in pain, Obiwan."

"How do you know?" I asked her intently.

"I saw him. He's in some sort of compound, and he's not in good shape."

"How did you see him?"

"In a dream. I was seeing everything through the eyes of one of Anakin's captors."

I stroked my beard as I thought about what she said. "How do you think that happened?" I wondered aloud.

Rayn shrugged. "I don't know. Do you think Anakin did it?"

"It's possible." I replied. Anakin was strong in the Force; he could have unintentionally caused Rayn to dream about his world. "I think we should wait a little longer to see if it happens again. Try to get as much information as you can if it does."

She nodded in agreement. "It might kill me, but I agree." She smiled at me before giving the punching one last uppercut.

"We're going to find him." I told her.

She looked straight at me with concern in her eyes. "Are you telling me or yourself?" She asked me.

I sighed. "I'm not sure."

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

A sharp hook to the jaw, a kick in the ribs, a jab to the spine.

It had become a daily routine. The painful jolts caused by each strike were familiar by now. Another day meant another beating, another experiment.

The door the room opened and a guard motioned for the guard beating me to speak to him.

They both eyed me carefully as they left the room, leaving me dangling from the ceiling.

I wrapped my hands around the chain holding me and tried to reposition my wrists so the shackles on them weren't digging into the skin too much.

I didn't know how long the two guards were going to be talking, so I treasured my break.

I just hung there, trying to catch my breath and straining to hear the conversation between the guards outside the room.

After a few minutes, they walked back in and took down the chain from the ceiling, letting me collapse on the ground.

My arms were screaming from moving so quickly after being stuck in the same position for who-knows-how-long. One of them bent down and undid my shackles and quickly snapped handcuffs on behind my back.

"Get up, Jedi." One of the guards kicked me one last time before he grabbed my arms, forcing my aching legs to support my own weight.

He shoved me forward, sticking a gun in my back to keep me moving.

We walked for what seemed like ages until we reached a large door at the end of one hallway. The guard without the gun opened it and shoved me through the doorway.

The room was very large and had hardly anything inside, save a few desks, chairs, and one huge screen that covered one entire wall.

The thing that caught my attention, however, was the one man in the middle of the room. He turned around and smiled warmly at me.

"Anakin Skywalker!" He exclaimed.

I said nothing in reply, only stared at the stranger. He seemed nice, just like a normal person. I knew that that was the wrong impression, however.

"I'm Bodarti Romney." The man introduced himself.

He must have been Shakira's employer.

I still didn't say anything, focusing only on making sure I didn't collapse.

Bodarti must have noticed my shaking legs because he pulled over a chair. "Sit down." He offered.

I wanted to sit down so badly, but I wasn't about to take up his 'generosity.'

Bodarti shrugged. "I see how you've caused Shakira so much stress over the past week. You must realize now just how lucky you were to have that guard helping you. Too bad he's dead, huh?"

I clenched my jaw, wanting to defend Stix.

"So, Master Skywalker, I'm sure you've already had a demonstration of my newest invention, correct?"

I remained silent, remembering how Shakira had killed Stix with an injection of my life.

"It's truly ingenious, isn't it?" Bodarti asked me.

"You're sick." I spat at him.

"Really? Am I?" Bodarti inquired. "Last I checked, this invention could change the entire war. It could possibly even end it. Wouldn't that be nice?"

I have to admit, I was more than ready for the Clone Wars to be over, but not in the way that Romney was suggesting.

"I'd rather die fighting than have the war end by killing the whole galaxy." I ground out.

Bodarti faked a look of shock. "Who said anything about killing the whole galaxy?" He asked.

"Isn't that your plan? To destroy everything planet by planet until everyone is forced to come crawling to your feet, begging for mercy?" I asked angrily.

"Not quite." Bodarti told me. "My invention would be used just like any other weapon for the aid of the Separatists."

"How?"

"To slowly bring the Republic to its knees." Bodarti said with a smile. "Soon, the Republic will begin to die off until there's nothing left but a bunch of sorry, groveling idiots with no business in warfare. Then, they'll be forced to surrender and the Separatists will rightfully take over."

"That will never happen." I ground out.

"Don't be so sure, Jedi. No one will be able to stop this weapon. It kills _anyone_ or_ anything_ that gets in its way." Bodarti told me. "With the threat of it, the Separatists can drive entire planets to join us. Well, either that or kill them all."

Bodarti turned around and walked over to the large screen. He pressed a button on the side of the screen and a large, green planet appeared. "Right now, there are several fighters above the planet of Shakuvy. Each one carries a gas bomb. One wrong move, and the bombs will drop and the whole planet will be dead."

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"If I'm going to use this to the Separatists' advantage, I need to know the true needs of the Republic. In other words, I need to know who or what to destroy. So, the first logical thing would be to eliminate the supply of soldiers. I mean really, without clones, who does the Republic rely on? The Jedi? I know there's a limited number of Jedi. They can't fight a whole war by themselves." Bodarti explained as the guards shoved me over closer to the screen. "So, where do you get your clones from? Surely you must know, being a Jedi after all."

I just stared at Bodarti's back.

After a moment he turned around, raising an eyebrow at me. "No answer?"

How could I tell him the answer to the impossible question he was asking? But how could I let Shakuvy be slowly, agonizingly so, be wiped out?

The guards kicked my knees and I immediately buckled to the ground. Bodarti sighed and kneeled down, grabbing a fistful of my hair. "You Jedi are always so stubborn. However, I'm really not in the mood for games, Master Skywalker. I won't hesitate to drop those bombs. Where do you get the clones?" He asked again.

I couldn't answer him. I couldn't betray the Republic like that.

My heart thudded in my chest as I closed my eyes tightly.

Bodarti stood up, letting go of my hair and grabbing a comlink.

"Commander, send the bombs."

* * *

><p><strong>Here's chapter 7! I hope y'all enjoyed it! Chapter 8 is soon to come!<strong>

**REVIEWS ARE ALL LOVED AND CHERISHED :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you so much for all the reviews/favs/alerts! They all mean a lot!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STAR WARS. However, I do own Rayn and other OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I didn't watch as the bombs detonated on the planet below. I didn't watch as the golden mist slowly covered the whole planet.

But I heard it all.

I heard the growing roar of pain as the mist slowly made its way around the whole planet surface, leaving a wake of pain and devastation behind. I heard the cries of children as they watched their parents die. I heard the screams of people – innocent people – as they were slowly deteriorated by the gas. I heard every single person's screams and shouts. I felt every person's life slowly be drained out of them in the most agonizing torture possible.

That's where I found myself now. In my cell, bent over as far as I could go, letting the tears stream freely down my cheeks as the noises continued. I tried to stop the pain, to block out the cries of desperation; but no matter what I did, none of it would stop.

I was being forced to listen to the sound of an entire planet's downfall through the Force.

I sat that way for hours, listening helplessly. After a while, I couldn't take it. The physical pain that each person was going through was echoing through my own body. I could feel my own body beginning to shut down. Not in the way like all of the people on the planet of Shakuvy, but I was beginning to black out.

Soon my sight was completely blank. I couldn't see anything, and the screams of dying people were finally starting to subside. I hardly noticed, though.

Within minutes, the world was gone to me.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

I was sitting with Rayn in her quarters.

"Have you heard or seen anything else from Anakin lately?" I asked her. It had been a day since she had had the dream about Anakin's captivity.

She shook her head grimly. "Nothing."

"Do you still think we should be patient?" I asked her, wishing that there was something we could do. "Maybe Luminara could-"

I was cut off by someone's fist pounding on Rayn's door.

"Master Kenobi!" A voice yelled from outside the door. "This is urgent!"

I got up, walking to the door and opening it, staring into the concerned face of Master Aayla Secura.

"Aayla, what is it?" I asked her.

"It's Shakuvy." She said simply. "Everyone is dead! They were alive and thriving last night, but as of one hour ago there are no signs of life on the surface."

"What? How could that happen?" Rayn asked from behind me.

"We don't know." Aayla replied. "We just got a holo of the surface of the planet. We need you to come look at it. Rayn, you can come, too." She told us.

Rayn and I nodded and we both followed her to the briefing room where there were multiple Council members circling the holoprojector in the center of the room.

Rayn, Aayla and I walked over to join the other Jedi and began taking in the images of Shakuvy.

There was death everywhere. People were dead. Animals were dead. Plants were dead. _Everything_ was dead.

"What happened?" I asked.

"The whole planet was wiped out." Mace Windu began to explain to me. "This must have been some sort of biological attack, but we don't know where it came from. We want you and Knight Tarwynn to go to Shakuvy and attempt to find some answers."

I nodded. "When do we leave?"

"Now."

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I slowly woke up, almost like a child testing the water before jumping in.

I groaned as I shifted my position on the floor. My entire body was aching with the aftermath of the destruction of Shakuvy. I slowly opened my eyes, actually being thankful that my room was dark...for once.

I listened closely for a moment, knowing that despite the Force collar still around my neck, there were things that couldn't be suppressed. Such as the death of an entire nation.

I knew that everyone and everything on Shakuvy was dead… And it was my fault.

What if I had told Bodarti about Kamino? What if I had answered his questions and kept Shakuvy alive?

But what would have happened if I had told him? He would have searched for Kamino and most likely destroyed all developing clones. Then where would the Republic be? With only a handful of Jedi and their battalions of clones, we wouldn't get real far. The seemingly endless supply of droids would overtake the Republic within a year, possibly even shorter than that.

If that would really have happened then I made the right choice, right?

Was the cost too much?

Were the lives of all those innocent people too much to pay for the clones on Kamino?

Of course, in war, there are casualties. There are those that are directly related to the war, such as Jedi and clones, others are simply bystanders that were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Is that how Shakuvy was? A whole nation at the wrong place at the wrong time?

Did they deserve it? There was no warning for them. All of them died not even knowing why they were being killed.

But I know why. They were slaughtered just to try to control me. To bring fear to the Republic. To demonstrate the power that Bodarti held over everyone now that he had my life – literally – in his hands.

That was the thought that terrified me the most.

Bodarti was in charge. Bodarti called the shots. Bodarti could wipe out entire systems without a second thought.

What else would he do to get answers from me?

I was torn from my thoughts as the door to my cell opened and Shakira walked in.

"Good morning, Jedi. Feeling more talkative today?" She asked me with a semi-cheery tone.

I remained silent, clenching my jaw and wishing I could punch her straight in the face.

"No?" Shakira walked over to the bodies of the Padawans that were still slumped over in the corner. "Would it help to get rid of these things?" She asked me, gesturing to the corpses.

I raised my head to look at her, seeing if she was being serious or not. I didn't see any deception in the depths of her black eyes. My gaze flickered to the bodies before I barely nodded my head.

Shakira's lips formed the slightest hint of a smile before she spoke again. "I'll have someone come and remove them. But first you have to keep the salvageable parts."

The Padawan braid on my wrist rubbed my skin again as I shifted positions. I wanted to rip it off, but I couldn't.

Shakira knelt down in front of the four Padawan bodies. "I must congratulate you, Master Jedi." Shakira commented as she cut off the braid of the human boy.

"How?" I asked.

"You have now succeeded in surviving longer than all these Padawans." Shakira said, cutting off the other two Padawan braids. "So now, you get to wear all of their braids as a trophy for your great accomplishment."

Shakira tied the braids around my left wrist along with the first one.

"Congratulations." Shakira said with a smile before she stood up again. "I'll have someone come and take those things away later." She told me, nodding to the bodies of the children.

"They're not things." I growled quietly.

"What was that?" Shakira replied. "Are you defending Jedi that you didn't even know just like you defended that guard?"

"Those children weren't even fully trained Jedi. They were only in training, and underage." I told her harshly.

"Then that shows the desperation of the Republic. Sending in children to do an adult's job… Pathetic." She spat before she turned to leave. "If you care so much about them, maybe I'll just leave them here for you. Think of it as a memorial for them."

With that, she left.

I sighed, closing my eyes and refusing to look at the dead bodies of the Padawans.

* * *

><p><strong>(Rayn Tarwynn)<strong>

Obiwan and I stepped down onto the planet surface of Shakuvy. We both wore gas masks to protect us from traces of the biological attack.

Everything was gray, dry, and dead. The grass under our feet crunched with each step.

"What could have done this?" I asked quietly.

"Something with a lot of destruction power." Obiwan replied.

"Obviously." I noted, kicking over a dead animal. "It's almost like the life was sucked out of the whole planet."

I stepped over the body of a little girl while I scanned the surface for any answers. I walked over to a hut, knocking on the door. It fell over and landed with a loud thud. I watched curiously as golden dust was kicked up from the impact the door made on the ground.

"That's weird." I murmured, kneeling down to look at the settling dust; but the second it touched the ground, it vanished. I stood up again, and started looked around inside the hut. The family that lived here was dead, and the house was duller than it had originally been. All the food was dead, all the fabric looked _well_ used, and all the wooden furniture was decaying and falling to pieces.

"Do you think this place was this run down before the attack?" Obiwan asked behind me.

"I don't know. It would be odd for all this food to already be spoiled after only one day. And everything's falling apart…" I said, touching a small table and watching it crumble into itself. "Something about this place is just…off. It's not normal by any stretch of the means."

"Agreed." Obiwan commented. "I don't like the way it feels. It makes me feel uneasy."

I nodded, walking out of the hut. "But at the same time it feels so…familiar."

Obiwan nodded slowly, closing his eyes and feeling the Force openly. "I know why." He whispered.

"What? Why?"

He opened his eyes, staring straight at me. "It's Anakin. I can feel him."

* * *

><p><strong>I know it's pretty short, but hey, it's an update and it's been less than a month! Congrats to me, right? ;]<strong>

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED **


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm **_**really**_** sorry it's been so long! I've been out of town/getting ready for school and starting school for the past like two months or so (not to mention the fact that I had minor writer's block)! But I FINALLY have this all typed up and I am satisfied with it :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STAR WARS. I do own Rayn Tarwynn and other OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

"It's Anakin. I can feel him." I said; putting my hand on one of the walls in the hut Rayn and I stood in.

She kicked one of the walls and golden mist fell from the rafters. She caught it in her hand and closed her eyes. "You're right. I feel him, too."

"But why?" I asked.

Rayn watched as the mist dissolved in her hand. "It's the mist. That's where it's coming from."

I looked around the hut, staring at small piles of mist.

"Do you think he's dead? Is that how they got this?" Rayn asked quietly, almost more to herself than to me.

I shrugged. "I don't know… But there's only one way to find out."

"What?"

I took out a small glass vial and placed some of the mist inside, then looked up at her. "We find him. Soon."

* * *

><p><strong>LATER<strong>

* * *

><p>Rayn and I were back inside the ship and were about to report to the Council.<p>

"I'll let you do the talking this time." Rayn said before I contacted the Jedi Council.

"Why? Usually it's you that gives the reports on missions that you and Anakin do." I asked her.

"Because I don't know how the heck you're going to explain this one." Rayn replied with a smile.

I smiled back as the holographic images of the Council members appeared in front of us.

"Master Kenobi, what is your status?" Mace Windu asked me.

"Rayn and I have searched the planet and have found that everything is dead, just as the holograms show." I began to explain. "But it goes even farther than everything just being dead, it's like the life was literally sucked out. Everything is gray and ashen. Even the furniture and inorganic objects are falling apart like they've died, too."

"But why? What could possibly do such a thing?" Master Kit Fisto asked.

"That's just it. We're not sure what it is, but we've found traces of golden mist around the planet, especially around areas of brutal destruction. We think it's the reason that the planet has died." I told them.

"Golden mist? Resemblance, the mist has?" Master Yoda wondered aloud.

"We think so." Rayn answered. "Around the entire planet, you can feel Anakin's Force signature."

"Do you think Anakin was taken there at some point?" Mace asked.

I shook my head. "His signature is strongest around the remaining mist. We think the mist contains his signature."

"How could that be? We've never been able to capture someone's Force signature, especially in such a wispy thing as mist." Master Ki-Adi Mundi commented.

"That, we don't know about." I replied. "But we think that if the mist can capture a Force signature, then it can capture some evidence as to where it came from. If we can find that out, then we might be able to get a better idea as to where Anakin is."

Master Yoda nodded slowly. "Back to the Temple, you two shall come. Have an analysis run on this mist, you will."

Rayn and I nodded. "Yes, Masters."

"We will be expecting you when you arrive." Mace Windu said, and then we bowed and broke off contact.

Rayn walked to the bridge and started the ship engines.

I sighed and sat in the co-pilot chair. "To Coruscant."

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I lifted my head when the door opened and Bodarti Romney walked through the door to my cell with two guards.

"I'm so glad to see you awake, Master Skywalker." Bodarti greeted me cheerily as he held his hands behind his back.

I said nothing in return.

"Well as you have figured out, Shakira works under me and I must make sure that she is doing everything that needs to be done." Bodarti explained to me.

"Well I hope everything's met your standards." I replied with a sarcastic grin.

"The facility has been approved, yes," Bodarti said cheerily as if I had seriously been hoping that this hellhole was adequate for him. "But I have yet to check over your part of this entire project. Which is what I am here for."

The first guard caught me off guard as I soon found myself gasping for breath after his foot had knocked all air out of my lungs.

For the next couple of minutes, the guards continued to beat me like they usually would. Bodarti just stood where he stood when this all started, watching on.

I knew that underneath the friendly façade, there was a sadistic reality. Even though Bodarti looked like he was simply watching a boring show and he had no expectations, I knew that underneath he was waiting for me to make a sound. That's what everyone like him wants. They want to hear their victim's pain. But this time he wasn't going to get it. Not from me.

After a couple more minutes, he decided he was going to make it harder.

"Now, if you don't mind, I do have a few questions on your accommodations here." Romney said like a cheery salesman as he pulled his hands from behind his back to reveal a large datapad. "Now, how often do you have that Force suppressor around your neck?"

Was he serious?

The punches and kicks stopped for a moment and I tried to catch my breath as I looked up at him, slightly shocked. "Always…" I breathed quietly.

Bodarti smiled and wrote something down on his datapad before he nodded and the guards continued my beating.

"Now, how often are you given food and water?" Bodarti continued his questions.

"Twice a day." I gasped after a few seconds.

Romney kept asking me questions throughout my beating. "How often is Shakira manufacturing life? How much sleep do you get? Are you ever cold in this cell?" And the questions went on and on and on.

By the time he asked his last question, I could barely even keep my head up to answer.

"Now, is this what your normal beatings are like?" Bodarti questioned.

All I did was nod slightly. I had given up trying to be stubborn with his constant questions.

"And how much time do you have between beatings and experiments?" He asked me.

"Way too little." I mumbled.

Bodarti jotted something else down on his datapad and put it back behind his back. "Alright, Master Jedi, that shall be all the information I need for today. Thank you for your cooperation."

I muttered, "Yeah and you can kiss my -" I cried out as the guard nearest me kicked me straight in my cracked ribs.

A small smile pulled at the corners of Bodarti's lips. "Thank you, Master Skywalker."

He left and I felt defeated.

Bodarti had gotten what he wanted.

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

Rayn and I sat in the analysis room in the Jedi Temple. The room wasn't very large, in fact Rayn and I could barely both fit in. There was only one chair in front of a pane of glass where the droids would try to identify our object.

"Place subject for analysis on the sensor tray, please." A droid asked us in a monotone from behind the glass.

I opened the small vial of golden mist and dumped part of the mist onto the metal tray on the panel in front of the chair.

The sensor tray slid under the panel and to the droid standing inside the closed-off room. He picked it up and looked at the golden mist closely.

"One moment please." His emotionless voice told us.

I nodded and Rayn and I watched quietly.

"Do you think this'll really work?" Rayn asked.

"I certainly hope so. If the mist can contain a Force signature, then surely there should be some trace of where it's come from. If we find that out, then maybe we can find where Anakin is." I replied.

"I just hope that we can find him soon." Rayn whispered. "I fear we may be on borrowed time."

"Do you think he's already dead?" I asked softly.

Rayn shrugged. "I don't know. No one's ever been able to physically capture a Force signature… After all, it's part of their _being_. I just don't know how they would get this unless he was killed. Besides, even if this does work and Anakin really isn't dead, I don't know if the Council will let us go after him or not."

"I agree. Depending on where this is from, the Council may not want to risk it." I commented.

"Not to mention the fact that we still don't know if he's alive. The Council doesn't like taking massive risks over the life of one Jedi, even if it's Anakin."

"And if we can't confirm that he's alive..."

"The Council would say that there's no point and that we should move on." Rayn finished my sentence for me.

I sighed and turned my chair to look into Rayn's grey eyes. "I'm not ready to do that. Not yet."

Rayn opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but the analysis droid interrupted her.

"Origin identified." The droid told us. My hopes went on a rampage after he said those words. We had a chance of finding Anakin. "As you can see on your screen, there are traces of dust of the molten rock of Lavardina."

The deep purple and black planet appeared on the small screen on the panel in front of me.

"Lavardina. I've heard of it. It used to be an active volcano…Now it's just a blob of rock." I thought aloud.

"Alright. Now we know where Anakin is." Rayn said with hope in her voice.

"Let's just pray that the Council allows us to find him."

* * *

><p><strong>(Bodarti Romney)<strong>

I went over the notes on my datapad.

How often does Shakira manufacture your life? _Usually once a day._

How much sleep do you get? _Who the hell knows?_

How many guards are with you? _How would I know? I never leave this room._

Are you satisfied with the state of your room? _It's just splendid, thanks._

I walked into the weapons room and placed my datapad on a nearby table.

"Shakira!" I called for the witch as I walked around one of the small experiment chambers for liquid life.

"Yes?" The old woman walked out from behind a nearby gas-bomb. "How may I help you?"

"How far along are we on the liquid version?" I asked as I pointed to a mini-model of a river and shore.

"We're coming very close." Shakira explained as she took a dropped are poured some liquid life into the model river. It dissolved instantly into the water and you never would have guessed that there had been anything there. "It's tasteless, and practically invisible. Within minutes of drinking the water, the consumer will be dead. We only need to find out how to place it into the water system." Shakira took a small rodent-like creature inside the model. The rodent took a small drink of water and then began to wheeze. I watched with a smile as the creature then burned away from the inside out.

"Excellent." I said, looking over at a large tank full of liquid life. "Place this in mobile pumps. Then it can be pumped into the main water source and slowly kill all inhabitants until they submit. Find a way to retract the life from the water. If the planet joins the Separatists, we will need to give them non-lethal water."

Shakira nodded. "Anything else?"

"Yes. I want twenty more gas-bombs ready by two days from now. I will find out where the Republic gets their soldiers from one way or another." I told her. The Jedi would tell me where their supply of soldiers came from or else he'd watch another planet die.

There were many useless planets in the galaxy, and one more made no difference to me, but it did to him.

And that was all that mattered.

* * *

><p><strong>(Rayn Tarwynn)<strong>

Obiwan and I stood in front of the Jedi Council, ready to plead our case to them.

"The mist had traces of molten dust from the planet Lavardina." Obiwan explained. "We think that's where Anakin is being kept."

"Wish to go, do you?" Master Yoda asked us.

We nodded. "Yes, Masters."

"Alive, you think young Skywalker is?"

"We don't know." Obiwan said. "We have no evidence of him being dead or alive."

Mace Windu shook his head. "Then we cannot allow you passage to Lavardina. It's much too risky."

"I disagree." Master Luminara Unduli objected. "Even if Master Skywalker is dead, there is a large threat, too. Whoever launched this biological attack obviously holds a lot of power and is still alive. I say we send them to find this threat and eliminate it."

"I agree with Master Unduli." Kit Fisto joined in. A few more Masters agreed with Luminara.

"Settled, it is." Master Yoda spoke. "Go to Lavardina, you two shall."

Obiwan and I nodded and I tried to keep from smiling.

"You two and a couple clones will go to Lavardina. The more of you there are, the more chance there is of you getting caught. If you're caught, with the massive power of weapons the people there have, I wouldn't be surprised if they unleashed it on the entire planet while they got away." Mace Windu said with a scowl.

Obiwan and I nodded. "Thank you, Masters."

We bowed and walked out of the Council Chambers.

Obiwan took a deep breath and looked over at me with a grin. "Let's go find Anakin."

* * *

><p><strong>There's chapter 9 for you! I hope y'all enjoyed it even though there was a huge gap between updates. Again, I apologize! This next update shouldn't be as long. If it is, y'all all have the right to shame me for all eternity.<strong>

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!**


	10. Chapter 10

**OK so maybe the update wasn't quite as soon as I'd hoped, but it's here now! **

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STAR WARS. I do own Rayn Tarwynn and other OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>(Rayn Tarwynn)<strong>

"How far away is Lavardina?" Obiwan asked me.

"We'll be there by tomorrow." I replied.

Obiwan sighed before whispering, "What if we don't have another day?"

Silence enveloped the bridge of our ship. What if we didn't have another day? Who knows…Anakin could've died. He could've died before we even found the mist on Shakuvy. We had _no way_ of knowing. For all we knew, we could just be going to break into a Separatist base to find a corpse…

The silence was broken by Cody – Obiwan's clone commander – walking into the bridge.

"Yes, Cody?" Obiwan asked.

"My men and I are going to get some sleep before we reach Lavardina." Cody said.

Obiwan nodded. "Go ahead."

Cody nodded and left to join the other four clones we had brought with us.

"Do you think we really have a chance at actually getting Anakin out?" I asked quietly.

"Possibly. Us and four clones, we could stand a chance, but we won't really be able to add up the odds until we see the base." Obiwan explained. "Besides, since when do odds bother you?"

I smiled at that comment, but it fell as I answered. "Since they determine Anakin's fate."

Obiwan sighed, giving me a sympathetic smile. "Look, I don't know what the odds are. Really, I doubt we'll even know the odds until we're in the middle of that base and something probably goes wrong. But the one thing I do know is that we _will_ get Anakin out of there. Whether it be dead or alive, he _will_ arrive at Coruscant."

* * *

><p><strong>(Bodarti Romney)<strong>

I was looking over the data of the most recent tests on the liquid version of the life-toxin.

_Time of procedure: 08:40:27 _

_Dosage: 2.5 cc injected into water source_

_Specimen: Rat_

_Time of ingestion: 08:50:52_

_Time of death: 08:55:10_

Five minutes. It took the rat five minutes to die after it drank the contaminated water. If it takes a rat five minutes to die, how long would it take a human to die?

"Shakira!" I called for the witch.

"Not here, sir." A nearby soldier told me.

"Where is she?" I asked him.

"With the Jedi." He responded.

I walked over to him. "When she's done, I want her to oversee another test of the liquid form."

"A-Another, sir?" The guard stuttered.

I'll admit, we had run quite a few tests, but this one was different.

"Yes. Another. Only this time, I want you to use a guard." I explained to him. I wanted to know just how long it took the life to work on a human.

The guard's eyes got slightly larger, but he remained silent.

"Problem, soldier?" I asked him curtly with a raised eyebrow.

He shook his head. "N-No sir."

"Good." I stated before starting to walk away. As I grabbed my clipboard to leave for my quarters, I turned back to the guard. "Oh, and soldier-" The guard looked back at me for orders. "- I want _you_ to be the test subject."

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

Hell. The only word that could possibly describe my life. A living, breathing, deadly hell.

Shakira had just started another experiment. The pain hadn't come yet, but I was still bracing myself for it.

The blood had started to trickle out of Shakira's closed fists as she continued to chant. Most people would be horrified if they saw blood continuing to flow from the fists of an old lady, but to me it had become a familiar sight. My nose had almost become accustomed to the smell of my own blood and I no longer was in a state of shock if I saw it covering Shakira's hands and my chest. It was my life now. But how long would that last?

Shakira opened up her hands and raised one to my chest, right over my heart, just like she'd done many times before.

There was a slight tugging feeling in my chest as Shakira brought her hand back to her lap and continued to chant. The tugging soon became sharp, jabbing pains to my heart. Then the real pain started.

The golden mist – my _life _– started to flow out of my chest and it felt like someone had started to slowly slide a dagger into my heart. I cried out and gritted my teeth. When I first came to this hellhole, I never wanted to let Shakira hear my pain. But now…I didn't care. Trying to hold it in hurt worse, and if I could do anything to relieve some pain, _any _pain at all, I would do it.

"Kachi!" Shakira yelled and even more mist flew out of my chest, making the ball of mist in Shakira's hands larger.

I screamed as it felt like someone had pulled out the dagger and plunged a burning rod right into my heart and started to twist it back and forth, slowly taking my life from me.

As Shakira continued to coax the life out of me, I began to lose my strength quickly. My knees began to tremble and could no longer hold up my own weight. They soon buckled underneath me, but the two guards holding my arms – tightly, might I add – kept me mostly upright.

After what seemed like hours, Shakira yelled, "Enough!"

The mist stopped abruptly and the guards let go of me, but the haunting ghost of pain still remained in my chest. I opened my eyes to see Shakira's large, swirling orb of life in both her hands. Since I'd gotten here, she'd started to slowly take more and more of my life during each experiment. It was almost like if someone was building up a tolerance to a poison, but this was the opposite. A much more painful and lethal opposite.

Shakira placed the orb into a black box and stood up. "That will do for today, Skywalker."

The guards then dragged me back to the cursed pole and handcuffed my hands behind my back and around it.

Then I was all alone, left to try to get rid of the lingering pain in my chest and feel the blood on my chest start to slowly dry until it became an uncomfortable, hard, flaky piece of my own skin.

I don't even know how long I had been in this cell, but by now I had lost any faith in anyone finding me. After all, what did they have to go on? My transmission before I disappeared? They didn't even have my coordinates of where I disappeared.

At this point, I had accepted the fact that I was most likely going to die in this cell. Whether it be by the beatings or Shakira's experiments, one way or another, my life was coming to an end. I could feel it. Every day I got weaker, and I hardly ever had time to actually let my body recover.

Even if I did get my strength back, there was no way I could possibly escape on my own. The only way I could get out would be if someone came to rescue me, and the Council wouldn't send any Jedi out for me. It was too risky for them, especially Mace Windu. He would vote to leave me no matter what the circumstances. Most of the other Council members would probably agree this time around. Coming to find me would be too risky.

Let's face it. The Council had left me to die.

* * *

><p><strong>(Bodarti Romney)<strong>

It had been a day since I'd seen the results for the rat and the liquid life-toxin.

I was back in the experimental room, looking over some new possible designs for bomb structures.

Shakira walked over to stand by my right. "Do you need any help?"

"How are the pumps for the liquid toxin going?" I asked her.

"They're being manufactured as we speak." She responded. "They are mobile and will be able to pump as much life as a bomb can hold into any water source in a maximum of one hour."

I nodded and smiled. "Good. And the human test?"

Shakira's lips twitched into a resemblance of a smile. "The time from consumption to death was ten minutes."

"Excellent. When will the soonest pump be available?" I asked her.

"There's already one ready for use." Shakira told me.

"Good. I want it loaded and ready by tonight."

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

We were coming up to Lavardina. I looked down at the rock ground below us and – as much as I hate to say it – I let my hopes get up. If this was really where Anakin was being held, we could save him. I didn't really want to get my hopes up too much, but I couldn't help it. I knew that it was a very good possibility that Anakin was already dead, but I wasn't ready to admit defeat until I saw his lifeless body with my own two eyes.

"Rayn, start running a scan on the planet." I instructed her.

She nodded and began to start a scan over the planet surface, looking for any signs of life. And on this Force-forsaken planet, life meant finding Anakin.

After ten painstakingly slow minutes, the scan finished.

I watched Rayn's face carefully as she looked over the results of the scan.

Her face was emotionless for about two minutes until her eyebrows knit together. "I don't understand." She whispered.

"What?" I asked, getting up to stand over her shoulder and look over the results.

"There's no sign of life on this planet." She told me as I finished looking at the scan.

Nothing. There was _no life on this planet_. That meant that there was no Anakin on this planet.

"We're not in the right place. Anakin's not being kept here."

* * *

><p><strong>I know it's kind of short and pretty uneventful, but I should have the next chapter up fairly soon!<strong>

**REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED**


	11. Chapter 11

**Merry Christmas! Like I said on my profile, thank you so so much for everyone's patience over the past…year. :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STAR WARS. I do own Rayn and other OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

"We're not in the right place. Anakin's not here." Rayn told me, still staring at the results of the scan.

"I don't understand. The mist came from Lavardina." I murmured, leaning over Rayn's shoulder to restart the scan. After a few agonizing minutes, the scan came back. There was still _no life_ on the planet.

"This can't be right." Rayn said before she stood up and left the ship quickly.

"Rayn!" I called for her as I followed her off the ship to see her walking forward on the smooth, rock surface. I considered going to get Cody and the other clones, but Rayn was moving too quickly. "Rayn, where are you going?"

Rayn stopped and whipped around to meet me. "Something's not right here."

"Look, I agree that Anakin should be here, but he's _not._" I responded.

"You don't know that." Rayn countered darkly as she turned around and kept walking.

"Wha- Cody! Get down here!" I yelled in vain for the clone onboard the ship that was now yards away from us. With no response, I turned back to Rayn. "Look, Rayn, you _saw_ the scan! There's no way that _anyone_ is on this planet!" I objected, following her long strides.

"But I also saw the analytical scan from the Temple. That mist came from Anakin, and if traces of Lavardina were found on the mist, then Anakin had to be on Lavardina." Ryan explained.

"What if he _was _on Lavardina at one point, but now he's moved on! Maybe he wasn't even here at all. The mist itself could have been transferred here before it was sent to destroy Shakuvy -"

"That can't be." Rayn interrupted me.

"Why not?" I asked her, still trying to keep up with her determined – and aimless – walking.

"Because the mist didn't hold any traces of Shakuvy, which is where we _found it_. If we _brought it from _Shakuvy and the analysis droids didn't find any hints of Shakuvy – where it had been sitting for hours – then there's no way that it would magically hold traces of Lavardina ash if it had only been here for a short amount of time. It just doesn't make sense." Rayn explained.

I was starting to understand her logic when my boot snagged on a lump of rock, which sent me stumbling into Rayn's back and then knocking us both to the hard ground. My knee throbbed from hitting the rock and Rayn was cursing under her breath. On the bright side, I got Rayn to stand still.

"Sorry." I mumbled as I stood up and reached my hand out for Rayn to take, but she didn't even notice. She was staring at the lump I had fallen over. "Um…Rayn?"

She completely ignored my hand and crawled over to the bump in the rock and put her right hand on it.

"Rayn, what are you –" I stopped midsentence as Rayn stood up, still holding onto the rock. The rock pulled up an entire square piece of the planet surface which then swung upwards like a door. Underneath where the rock had been, there was a thick metal door. The door had a red circle with a cross messily painted onto it.

Rayn looked over at me with the barest hint of a smile on her lips. "I think we've found Anakin."

* * *

><p><strong>(Anakin Skywalker)<strong>

I leaned against the pole behind me.

Earlier a guard had come in to beat me again; but honestly, I didn't care. I had given up. I didn't care anymore. I was ready to die. No one was coming for me, and there's no way I could escape without someone to help. If I had my lightsaber, I at least would have a chance, but I didn't even know if the Separatists were keeping my lightsaber or if they'd destroyed it.

The door to my cell opened and I didn't even look up. I closed my eyes and wished that it would all just magically end. Sadly, my efforts were in vain.

"Good day, Master Skywalker." Bodarti Romney greeted me cheerily.

I remained silent. I really wasn't in the mood for this.

"Alright, Jedi." Romney started to go into yet another long rant. "I know that last time I tried this, it didn't go so well, but maybe this time will be different."

He had said the last part with an unsettling tone and I started to grow scared.

Bodarti squatted down until he was at my own level. "I really need to know where the Jedi are getting their clones from. It's as important to me as the location of our droid factories are to you Jedi."

All I did was glare at him, but I hope he couldn't see the fear in my eyes. The last time Romney had asked this, Shakuvy had been destroyed. Slowly. Painfully. And I felt every second of it. I couldn't go through that again. I couldn't let another planet be wrongfully wiped out by this…monster. At the same time, I couldn't just tell where the Republic gets our clones from. Romney would wipe out Kamino and with it all clones. Without clones, the Republic could very easily be destroyed. After all, besides Jedi and clones, what sort of force does the Republic have? Politics? Look at how well that was going. The war was no closer to ending than when it had first begun… Clones were all the real fighting force that the Republic had. I couldn't give that away. It'd be traitorous. But what could I say?

"I don't know where they come from." I played dumb.

Romney clicked his tongue. "Tsk, tsk, Master Skywalker. Surely the Jedi Council wouldn't keep that from you. I bet I could ask any Republican politician and get a real answer from them."

I was caught, but I had to keep the lie up. If I told him I knew there was no way he would just let it go. "The Council doesn't tell me these things. I'm sure some people know, but _I_ don't. All I know is that clones are sent to us to go fight." I finished, staring Bodarti in the eye.

He stared back at me with cold, hard eyes. "Have it your way." My hope soared, though I tried to shove it down. He continued, "It may interest you to know that Shakira has developed a new form of your life. It dissolves into liquid. It's clear, tasteless, and can spread through an entire ocean in a matter of hours." My hope was immediately dashed. "Now imagine what would happen if someone were to accidentally drink that contaminated water."

My heartbeat quickened as I re-lived Shakuvy being slowly burned with the mist. I didn't want to think about what would happen if someone drank it.

"Sure, they'd feel fine at first, but after a few minutes it would eat them from the inside out." Romney's voice dropped to a menacing level. "And of course, they would have no way of warning everyone that their water supply was deadly, so more would drink. Once whatever moronic being living there finally figures it out, what next? Find a new water supply that isn't contaminated? I can promise you that won't happen. And what then? It's either death by dehydration or death by drinking the water. A win-win situation if I do say so myself. It also might strike your fancy to know that I have pumps loaded on the planet of Dantooine. At my command, they'll let their lively contents flow out of them and into every water source on the planet. Of course, you can figure out the rest from there."

My stomach churned. Dantooine was Rayn's home planet. I knew it was mostly populated by farming families. Farming families who would die an agonizing death…

"Now, I'm sure you're wondering how to stop this tragedy from taking place. Simple! Tell me the truth, Master Skywalker. We are both men of honor; lies do not become us."

What was I supposed to say? I couldn't let another planet die out because of me, but I couldn't tell Romney about Kamino.

I sighed, trying to force my emotion-suffocated lungs to expand again. "Could I have some time?" I asked quietly. I hated feeling weak like this. I was practically begging.

Bodarti gave the vague impression of a smile. "You have one hour to give me an answer either way. If you don't, Dantooine is dead regardless of your decision."

* * *

><p><strong>(Obiwan Kenobi)<strong>

"I think we've found Anakin." Rayn said.

I fought to find the right words to say in response. I wanted to shout in joy for finding Anakin, but I didn't know if he was alive. We didn't know what was down there. We didn't know where he was below the hatch at our feet. "What now?" I asked lamely.

Rayn looked at the hatch. "I don't know… We go to the Council."

"We can't. We're too far out of range." I told her, even though I wasn't completely sure I was accurate. In all honesty, I didn't want to contact them. They would probably tell us to wait for back-up, or to come back to the Temple and they'd send more Jedi or clones. Both of which took too long and Anakin didn't have time for that. Rayn, the clones, and I could handle it… _We had to._

"Then what?" Rayn asked with a hopeful glint in her eye.

"We get Cody and the rest of the clones, and then we go down there ourselves." I said in false confidence.

Rayn smiled, as I called Cody on my comlink. "Cody, bring your men and guns. We may have found General Skywalker."

"Roger that, sir." Cody responded.

Within a few minutes, Cody and his group of four clones were at our side. "What's the plan, sir?" Cody asked.

A plan. Right. Uh… "We're going down that hatch. We don't know what's waiting for us, but we don't want to get caught and we want to find Anakin. Clear?"

"Crystal, sir." Cody responded.

With that, Rayn pried open the large, metal hatch. There was a short ladder leading down to the halls below. Rayn climbed down first, looking around before motioning for us to follow.

Inside, the floor was durasteel with rock carving out the walls and ceiling. We were standing in the middle of a long passageway and neither way seemed to lead anywhere.

"I'll take Snipe, Baron, and Tarken down this hall. You take Cody and Lorin and go that way. If we run into trouble, we have our comms. If you find Anakin, alert the group and we evacuate. Understood?" I quietly instructed the group.

Everyone nodded and I broke off with three clones and began walking up the northern hall while Rayn took the remaining two clones and went the southern route.

Snipe and I were in the lead with Baron and Tarken at the back. We quietly crept down the hall, coming up to a fork. I peeked around the corner, spotting a large door on the right side of the hallway. It opened and I quickly backed up against the wall with my clones.

A group of three guards passed by us, walking down the same hall as the room they had come from. I assumed Anakin wasn't there and we silently crept up behind the guards. I covered the middle one's mouth while I speared my lightsaber through his middle. Baron snapped the neck of one while Tarken choked the other one.

I jerked my head towards the room the guards had come from. Baron and Tarken nodded and we dragged their bodies back into the empty room.

"Let's keep moving." I whispered as we continued down the hall.

* * *

><p><strong>(Rayn Tarwynn)<strong>

We had already found three storage closets, two empty armories, and had just passed one completely abandoned room but there was no sign of Anakin or any guards.

"This base must not need much protecting…" Cody whispered.

"No need. Who can find it?" I responded.

We continued down another hall, reaching a turn. As we turned, we came face to face with two guards. One opened his mouth to yell, but I ignited my lightsaber and threw it. It sunk into his abdomen before he could get anything out while Cody took down the other guard.

We looked at the bodies of the two guards.

"Cody, Lorin, put these uniforms on." I told the two clones.

"May we ask why, General Tarwynn?" Lorin asked me as he took his helmet off.

"What guard is going to stop two other guards with a helpless Jedi between them?"

Without another word, the two dragged the guards back to the abandoned room we had passed a few yards down and changed into the uniforms. When they emerged, they both took hold of my arms and we began marching down the hall.

We took four more twists and turns before we reached any more guards. A group of three guards walked down the hall, stopping right in front of her.

"Where are you taking her?" One of the guards asked Cody and Lorin.

"To a holding cell." Cody responded.

The guard looked me up and down before meeting my eyes. "Shakira's got her hands full, doesn't she?"

Cody laughed breathily. "Yes, she does."

The guard looked away from me, shrugging. "Carry on."

Cody and Lorin hauled me forward, continuing our search for Anakin. I fought a smile as we passed another guard who didn't give us a second glance. Our disguises were working. We were going to find Anakin.

* * *

><p>Tada! There's chapter 11! The story is almost done! Probably another couple of chapters to go! Thank you again for everyone's patience with this story.<p>

*There is a quote from a popular 70's movie in this chapter! If anyone can guess it, you win the joy of knowing the quote and my respect! :D


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